Wonder Valley, California, in the heart of the Mojave Desert, is a rural community of artists, musicians, and other desert dwellers. Visit the Palms Restaurant, the Glass Outhouse Gallery, and the Wonder Valley Community Center. Visit the beautiful Pinto and Bullion mountains. Minutes from Joshua Tree National Park and the Gateway to the Mojave Preserve.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

IMPORTANT: SCE Planned Outage June 29!!!

Many Wonder Valley residents received a notice yesterday of a Planned Outage for June 29 from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. People have told me this will affect Twentynine Palms, as well, though at this point this is a rumor. If it is true, Wonder Valley residents will have to travel more than 30 miles to get to a cooling center.

I have contacted the Public Affairs Officer at SCE, the Supervisor's Office and Special Districts, to see what we can do to either stall, or prepare for, this outage.

In the meantime, I suggest you make whatever preparations you can.

Make sure your phone and backup battery are charged so you can call 911 for yourself or your neighbor if you need to.

Make sure you have gas in your car and that you can manually open your garage door if necessary.

If you have a well, make sure that you have plenty of water bottled for yourselves and your animals. Have buckets of water standing by so you can flush your toilets. Consider filling your bathtub so you will have water to cool off in.

Try not to open your freezer or refrigerator. Freeze water in milk bottles and put these in your fridge on the day of the outage. You WILL have to throw out perishable food that is stored below 40 degrees.

Fill a cooler with ice and beverages to use for the day. (Keep the fridge closed.)

Have plenty of food on hand that does not need to be refrigerated: peanut butter, bread, tortillas, beans, energy bars, snacks.

Keep the curtains closed from before the sun comes up.

Make plans to visit friends or relatives in a different town for the day.

Remember your animals.

Check on your neighbors

Stay tuned here. I will report if there are any changes to this planned outage.